A Royal Day Out.

 The Invincibles organised a trip for us to visit Buckingham Palace.

They decided to go big - and see all three places:- The State Rooms, the Royal Mews and The King's Gallery.

We started our visit in The State Rooms.  Buckingham Palace was amazing.  The tickets include the audio tour which allowed us to walk through at our own pace.  No photography is allowed but we took our time.  The State Rooms are lavishly furnished with some of the greatest treasures from the Royal Collection - paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Poussin, Canaletto and Claude; sculpture by Canova Chantrey; exquisite examples of Sevres porcelain, and some of the finest English and French furniture in the world.

A tour of the State Rooms leads through to the Buckingham Palace Gardens.  We stopped at the cafe to snack on sandwiches and coffee.

We were a little disappointed that the tour of the gardens was actually a walk down the path to the exit, so there really wasn't a lot to see, as the other paths in the garden have been blocked off.  After a stop for an ice cream the path deposited us back out onto the street and into reality.

Next stop was The Royal Mews - a working part of the Palace..  The entrance to the Royal Mews is just off Buckingham Palace Road, and unlike the Palace's grand facade, it's surprisingly discreet.  Inside, we picked up an audio guide  The Royal Mews is where all the road travel for the King and Royal Family is organised - everything from the gleaming Rolls Royces to the magnificent coaches pulled by horses.  We even saw a Windsor Grey royal horse up close.  It's part living stables, part museum and part backstage pass to the pomp and ceremony we see.   Full of history, with royal carriages and coaches dating back to the 18th century. The real stars of the show in the Royal Mews are the coaches - especially the Gold State Coach and the Diamond Jubilee State Coach.  Honestly, they're beyond even Cinderella's wildest dreams.  The Diamond Jubilee State Coach, though it looks centuries old, was actually built in Australia in 2012 (and first used in 2014) to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.  It's packed with modern perks like air conditioning, electric windows, six hydraulic stabilisers to keep things steady - and there's even a hidden camera perched up in the crown.  And yes - it whisked King Charles III and Queen Camilla toward their 2023 coronation - whilst the legendary Gold State Coach carried them back.

I was genuinely awestruck standing before the Gold State Coach.  At over 260 years old, it has been used at every coronation since that of William IV.  Queen Elizabeth II travelled in it on her Coronation Day in 1953, it appeared in the Platinum Jubilee Pageant in 2022 and most recently it carried King Charles III during his Coronation in 2023.

The coach itself is extraordinary: seven metres long, nearly four metres tall, weighing four tonnes and requiring eight horses to pull it.  It is made of giltwood, which is a thin layer of gold leaf over wood.  Its sides are decorated with painted panels of Roman gods and goddesses, while gilded sculptures and triton figures adorn the roof and wheels.  It looks every bit the stuff of fairy tales.

And on to The King's Gallery for a special exhibition - Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style.

An excellent exhibition, so much to see, we all really enjoyed it.  It was busy but you could take your time and move between the displays at your own pace.  The evening gowns were beautiful, along with the wedding and coronation dress.  Thought it was fabulous.  The exhibition is beautifully displayed and the audio guide really helps to explain every section very clearly. 

With more than 300 items, many on display for the first time, it is the largest exhibition of the Queen's fashion ever mounted.  There is clothing from all ten decades of her life as she transitioned from being a princess to Britain's longest-reigning monarch.  Some of the first items on display are from when the Queen was a baby.  Then there are two gorgeous velvet coats with nipped-in waists that she wore as a young woman.

Needless to say, there are some showstopper pieces, including the Queen's wedding ensemble created by her long-time collaborator Norman Hartnell.  The design was inspired by Alessandro Botticelli's painting Primavera (Spring).  The idea of renewal felt appropriate as the 1947 wedding came soon after the Second World War.

Also on display is the Queen's coronation dress.  Hartnell was the designer of this, too, and the Queen asked him to conform to the line of her wedding dress and use white satin.  But the Queen also decided that rather than have just silver and gold embroidery, the dress should have coloured thread to show the emblems of the UK's four nations and other dominions of which she was then Queen.

Embroidery is a big feature of many of the clothes on display, particularly the glamorous evening dresses the Queen wore for state banquets and other functions.  Over time, these evolved from the crinoline style to close-fitting shifts.  But the embroidery was still key, and the exhibition is a great opportunity to see it at close quarters.

The Queen's role on the global stage is also covered.  There is an amazing array of outfits she wore to events when visiting different countries, always carefully designed to pay tribute to the host nation.  Plus lots of day wear for the visits, though of course it wasn't just clothes.  The Queen also needed luggage for her trips, as well as hats, bags and shoes to match every outfit.

What a style icon the late Queen was. 

Really enjoyed the day. The staff were welcoming and very helpful throughout.